Resume

WESLEY D. PLATT
jointhesaga@gmail.com

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

July 2014-Present: Writer/Designer at Prologue Games in Durham. Writing and designing an episodic swamp noir adventure called Knee Deep.

February 2012-July 2014: News Editor at The Herald-Sun in Durham. Responsibilities: Managed news workflow and edited copy for daily newspaper operated by the Paxton Media chain. Coordinated reporters on their beats. Wrote unsigned editorials. Coordinated guest opinion pieces. Coordinated letters to the editor. Selected op-ed cartoons. Customized design of Heraldsun.com within template used by chain to optimize for local readership. Updated website content – sometimes hourly – with breaking news and photos. Connected with community through corporate communications via social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook. Wrote weekly signed column.

June 2012-February 2013: Education Reporter at The Herald-Sun in Durham. Responsibilities: Covered the K-12 education beat for daily newspaper operated by the Paxton Media chain in Durham and Orange counties, from public schools to private and charter schools. Connected with community through social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook. Handled occasional weekend cop shifts.

February 2012-June 2012: News Editor/Senior Reporter at Henderson Daily Dispatch. Responsibilities: Managed news workflow and edited copy for daily newspaper operated by the Paxton Media chain. Coordinated other reporters on their beats. Updated website with breaking news and photos. Connected with community through social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook. Also covered news, producing articles for education and county government beats.

June 1998-Present: Lead Designer, Jointhesaga.com. Developer of prose-based online interactive computer games. Responsibilities: Extensive writing, editing, web content production, blog content production, editing and proofreading, community management, social media outreach (Twitter, Facebook), HTML editing, plot development, dialogue writing, conflict management, volunteer coordination, creative problem solving, Wiki development, content management system use, bug tracking, bug fixing, crafting system development, achievement system development, story arc management, collaboration with team members, fundraising campaigns, press releases, newsletters, game documentation.

January-July 2011: Level Designer, Bit Trap Studios. Creating interactive video game environments for an unreleased project. Responsibilities: Narrative creation, dialogue writing, editing, Wiki development, art placement using proprietary tools, encounter scripting, playtesting, bug tracking, bug fixing, bug reporting, collaboration with other departments.

April 2006-November 2010: Director of Content Development, Icarus Studios/Fallen Earth. Participated in design and production of two released video game titles: Fallen Earth and Fallen Earth: Bloodsports. Responsibilities: Supporting the lead designer and the producer, narrative creation, background lore development, dialogue writing, quest/mission design, editing and proofreading, scrum team management, production team leadership, critical feedback, mentoring, corporate communications, development journal writing, project Powerpoint presentations, video scripts, social media interactions, web advertising copy, investor presentations, tools demonstrations, game demonstrations, conference appearances, media interviews, Wiki development, level design concepts, art placement using proprietary tools, encounter scripting, live event planning, live event management, playtesting, bug tracking, bug fixing, bug reporting, patch notes production and publication, collaboration with team members and with other departments, personnel management, personnel review recommendations, forum management, blog management, community relations with players on official Fallen Earth forums and in-game during special live events.

April 1991-March 2003: Journalist, St. Petersburg Times. Served as beat reporter and eventually bureau chief of pioneering regional edition. Responsibilities: Cultivation of news sources, public records review, live event coverage, public meeting coverage, courtroom coverage, news article assignments, collaboration with other journalists, page design and photo placement, coordination of breaking news for the newspaper’s Internet site, community relations with readers in official web forums, corporate communications, column writing, proofreading, editing, public speaking to promote the newspaper in “enemy” territory, mentoring new reporters.

September 1990-April 1991: Editor in Chief, USF Oracle. After brief stint as prolific reporter, became leader of the college newspaper at University of South Florida. Responsibilities: Coordinating daily news coverage, assigning articles, headline writing, reviewing wire copy, breaking news writing, column writing, editorial cartooning, proofreading articles and columns, assisting in page design, approving final pages, overseeing delivery of pages to press, community relations with readers, cultivating news sources.

PROFESSIONAL SKILLS

Writing: Journalistic daily deadline reporting (police beat, courts beat, county government beat, political beat), process articles, live event reporting, weekly columns, editorial writing, enterprise reporting, news features reporting, technical writing, copywriting, SEO-driven web content, archive research, library research, Internet research, press release writing, novel writing, short story writing, dialogue writing, screenplay writing, development journal writing, AP style.

Interviewing: Telephone Q&A, in-person Q&A, email Q&A, Skype Q&A, note-taking shorthand, critical thinking, analytical skills.

Game Design: Story development, character development, dialogue/conversation trees, quest design, town design, creature concept design, crafting system design, quality assurance testing, problem solving, collaboration, resource management, deadline projects, progress tracking, production management.

Editing: Reporter assignments, proofreading, critical feedback, revision editing, rewriting, collaboration with other editors.

Digital Photography: iPhone camera, Blackberry camera, Canon camera.

PC Software: MS Word, MS Excel, MS Outlook, MS Project, MS Powerpoint, MS Works, Open Office, Adobe Acrobat, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Audacity, Windows Movie Maker, Skype, Windows Live Messenger, Pandion Messenger, Fogbugz, WinSCP (file transfer software), Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, Scrivener, Google Analytics, HTML editing.

Computer Systems: PC Windows Vista, Windows 2000, 98, XP, Macintosh.

Community Management: Drupal, Zope, Hootsuite, WordPress, PHPBB, SimpleMachine, VBulletin, MediaWiki, Social Media, Facebook pages, Twitter (more than 1,100 followers to date), FourSquare, GetGlue, Kickstarter (successful fundraising campaign for OtherSpace: Down to Earth), volunteer management, metrics tracking.

Team Management: Personnel management, Agile/Scrum management, burndown chart output, reviews, mentoring, meeting coordination, interdepartmental cooperation, disciplinary recommendations.

Communications: Marketing and promotions, corporate communications, flyer production, Adobe Acrobat PDF production, Lulu.com ebook production, public speaking, conference booth representation, media interviews, conference panel discussions, newsletter development, development journal writing, media contact cultivation, information source cultivation, SEO focus.

EDUCATION

University of South Florida, Bachelor’s, Mass Communications. Graduated 1992.

Valencia Community College, Associate’s. Graduated 1989.

Winter Park High School, Diploma. Graduated 1984.